THE LANDMARK FARM BILL LEFT SUGAR SUBSIDIES STANDING. REFORMERS WONDER WHAT WENT WRONG

Agricultural socialism was supposed to end this week with the signing by President Clinton of the landmark Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform Act (fair). Touted as the most ambitious effort to bring free enterprise to the farm in more than half a century, the overhaul slashes price supports for staples from wheat to cotton. No crop was to be spared the scythe of reform.

But for America's sugar growers, how sweet it still is. The industry's profit-enhancing price supports are mostly still standing. The program keeps the cost of domestic sugar at nearly twice the world level, and critics say it...